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Day: December 21, 2009

These octopuses sure know how to adjust to human presence. Scientists say that this is the first recorded tool-using invertebrate. Not if you grew up along the coasts of the Philippine islands however. Kids gleaning along the coastal flats often find octopuses sheltered in tin cans and other “reusable” human refuse.

These eight-legged creatures need to be as wily as coyotes if they were to survive human encroachment. The prize for dumbing down on the evolutionary arms race is tragic: a gutted octopus sautéed with garlic. They need to fast-track their behavioral adaptation now that their camouflage is busted for all the world to see. These crazy media outlets, scientists, and bloggers should mind their own business. Let those octopuses pretend they’re coconuts, you nuts!

While the rest of the world is reeling from the failure of the Copenhagen summit, I chanced on a youtube video that got me curious. The comments generated encapsulate what could have been the divergent views during the summit. In Copenhagen, you have world leaders. In this debate, you got people who are really in the middle of things, talking about how climate change and development translate at the local level.

This video shows residents of Naga, a small municipality in the central islands of the Philippines, rallying in defense of coal-fired power plants. This is supposed to be a show of force to counter “environmentalist propaganda.” Local greens of Cebu have been campaigning for the stopping of coal-fired power plants in the area.